Yes it can, but a kernel update is a completely different scenario, and managed individually by companies as part of their upgrades. It is usually tested and rolled out incrementally.
Furthermore, Linux doesn’t blue screen. I know some scenarios where Linux has issues, but I can count on one finger the amount of times I’ve had an update cause issues booting… and that was because I was using some newer encryption settings as part of systemd.
However, it would take all my fingers & toes, and then some, to count the number of blue screens I’ve gotten with Windows… and I don’t think I’m alone in that regard.